Athanasios Mpathas - Panagiotis Siagreece
share via
Artia Gallery is home to many artists and aims to inform on contemporary art and the current state of affairs in their own sight. Thanassis Bathas and Panagiotis Siagreece, one ascending and one acclaimed artist, talk us about the importance of art and the role of the artist in today’s crisis.
Thanassis Bathas, from the small city of Agrinio, influenced by the family environment and his love of reading comics, took on painting and decided to give exams for the School of Fine Arts realizing that painting was his personal way of expression. Entering the S.F.A. however, made him feel uneasy and left him wondering if he really belonged there. Aided by his friend and collaborator, Panagiotis Siagreece, managed to blend in, and familiarize himself with what he really loves to do best.
Inspired by communicating with other people he usually depicts in his paintings the collision between opposite concepts like "natural" and "artificial", “country” and “city”.
"These days I only wish I could relieve and exist through painting," quoted, answering our question about what his dreams are.
A graduate of the School of Fine Arts with personal exhibitions in Athens and Cyprus, and group exhibitions in various venues in Greece and abroad, Panagiotis Siagreece reckons all media around us as potentially useful for anyone doing contemporary art. He likes to work on projects of other artists and create something new. "In some cases I like to borrow elements from anyone to be able to convey what I have in my mind. This is one of my ways to pick things up."
He finds exciting the use of humor in his works, sometimes even to mock his own self through them. He claims he managed to evolve as soon as he started to realize the importance of projects and things that he did not initially like. In his new work he paints pictures on top of each other, thus creating a dialogue which depicts his own personal eye over the current situation that surrounds him.
- Creativity knows no crisis
"Today seems bleak. If we go back in history we see that a thriving and prosperous State means a thriving and evolving Art.
Fortunately, in many cases Art precedes life and everyday reality. The expressionists, for example, with their innovative look, exceeded their time by far. "
Panagiotis Siagreece recognizes the difficulties of the time, pointing out however that the only difference lies in the conditions in which the artist creates rather than Art itself.
Artists are called to create whatever the circumstances and it is their life experience that is most important.
"If we were marooned on an island, we would find something to carve, only because we would feel the need to express ourselves, even if we knew that our creation was due to be destroyed.
- ·A modern Guernica in Syntagma Square
Thanassis Bathas speaks of how the artists could help in the current economic and political situation.
"One way to react to this situation is do what most people do, to leave our labs and get out on the road. Besides that, we could lay out our own Guernica in Syntagma Square and participate into this mass reaction with a more artistic eye. This is what makes people of Art really special, expressing their feelings in their own personal way. "If I could express the things I want to say in words, then I would not be painting."
However artists, regardless of the circumstances, find themselves in the process to show the world their perception of reality and encourage people to react on everyday stimulus and not stick to the surface of things.